When Tesla brought its new gigafactory to Del Valle, Texas, just outside Austin, governments lined up to offer tax breaks and incentives. That included Travis County, where Del Valle and Austin are located.
But four years later, journalists interested in learning how well Tesla has lived up to its commitments, and what taxpayers got in exchange, have had difficulty getting access to public records.
Tech expert Omar Gallaga wrote about the attempt to get answers for the Austin Free Press.
Highlights from this segment:
– Travis County capped the value of the land where Tesla built its factory at $80 million – far less than the current value of the land, leading to huge tax savings for Tesla. Tesla also agreed to make payments of $1 million annually to the Del Valle school district each year. Tesla promised that it would create 5,000 jobs within four years. The company appears to have far exceeded that jobs goal.
– Attempts to gather public information about whether Tesla has been a net-positive in the area led to instances in which public information was not provided by the county, and even a request for an exception to information disclosure rules was filed with the attorney general.
– Tesla did not respond to requests for information about its impact on the county.
